Feds admit surveillance satellite project delayed two years

OTTAWA — The federal government has admitted that its ambitious plan to launch a series of satellites to monitor Canadian territory from space starting in 2014 has been delayed by at least two years.

The delay is significant as the Defence Department has previously warned that the satellites had to be in place by 2015 at the latest or Canada would be left without any space-based surveillance capability.

The Radarsat Constellation Mission, as the series of three satellites and associated ground-based stations is called, was initially announced in 2005 and highlighted during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to the Arctic in 2010.

It is designed to replace the existing Radarsat-2 surveillance satellite and provide complete coverage of Canada’s land and oceans.

But it has since run into controversy.

The project’s estimated costs have ballooned from $600 million to $854.8 million over the past couple of years, while some within the space industry questioned the Conservatives’ commitment to it.

The Harper government has maintained it is moving ahead on the constellation, and officials with British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) confirmed last week they have been in contact with the Canadian Space Agency on moving ahead.

But confirmation of the two-year delay is contained in several separate documents tabled in the House of Commons over the past week.

“The launch of the first satellite is planned to occur in fiscal year 2016-2017, followed a year later by the other two satellites,” reads an Industry Canada response to an Order Paper question posed by NDP MP Helene LeBlanc.

“Delays were caused by unexpected difficulties during the critical design phase.”

An annual Canadian Space Agency report released on Thursday also notes that “the launch of the first satellite is now planned to occur in 2016, to be followed by the launch of the two remaining satellites on another launcher in 2017.”

The revelation will undoubtedly have Defence Department officials fretting as documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen last month showed military officials warning the RCM had to be in place by 2015.

The reason is that there was no guarantee Radarsat-2, which was launched in 2007, would continue functioning beyond 2015.

One Defence Department study from 2009 that was obtained by the Citizen noted that without Radarsat-2 or its replacement, space-based surveillance capabilities “will perish for all of GoC (government of Canada).”

A separate briefing note prepared for then-associate defence minister Julian Fantino in November 2011 said: “From a defence perspective, the RCM will be particularly important for providing wide area surveillance of Canada and its maritime approaches, enabling the CF (Canadian Forces) to continuously track vessels that may pose a security risk to Canada and Canadians.”

Industry Canada said the federal government remains committed to the Radarsat Constellation Mission, and that the Canadian Space Agency is working with MDA to complete the design phase.